CUNY Jewish students share experiences of antisemitism at roundtable with Torres, Adams

Jewish student leaders from the City University of New York shared firsthand accounts of campus antisemitism with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and New York City Mayor Eric Adams at a roundtable inside City Hall on Monday. 

The meeting came as a result of several antisemitic incidents CUNY students have faced just weeks into the new academic year. Many of the students in attendance said that antisemitism is more intense on campus than it was last year. They shared that they were met with loud protests outside of a recent event intending to welcome new Jewish students to campus.

On Sep. 3, some CUNY Jewish students were followed to a kosher restaurant in midtown Manhattan, where pro-Palestinian student demonstrators blockaded the entrance and shouted threats at Jewish customers. 

Also this month, CUNY’s Baruch College tried to cancel an annual campus Rosh Hashanah celebration over safety concerns. Baruch’s president, Szu-yung David Wu, initially told students that he could not “guarantee their security.” The decision was later reversed on the condition that Hillel’s name would not be on the Sept. 26 event due to fears of anti-Israel protests. 

“We’ve been fighting for almost a year now with all of the antisemitism going on both on campus and in the city,” Maya Gavriel, a third-year student studying accounting at Baruch, told Jewish Insider at the event. “Being able to speak with leaders who can actually make change, and they’re listening to what’s happening, feels like I’m finally getting an opportunity to be proud about being Jewish. I’m under the impression that [Adams and Torres] care about wanting to give us the resources to make a change, but it will only come with time and a lot of pressure.” 

Gavriel noted that she’s particularly appreciative of Torres for meeting with Baruch Jewish students immediately after the Rosh Hashanah event cancellation. “He set up the meeting with Mayor Adams and the NYPD,” she said. “He listened and gave us resources and that’s how I know things are happening. That’s why we keep showing up to tell our stories and we’re not stopping this fight.” 

Students expressed that the NYPD did not move fast enough last year to break up demonstrations. 

Adams told the group of about a dozen students that “we need action from you guys to ask them to go onto campus.” 

“Our lawyers made it clear you don’t have the authority to go on those college campuses without the permission of the individuals of the schools, the presidents and the faculties,” the mayor said after listening to students’ concerns and experiences.  

“Whatever the law allows me to do, I am going to do it to ensure New Yorkers are safe,” Adams said. 

“Free expression is vital to a free society,” said Torres. “But there is a difference between free expression and harassment [and] intimidation. What we’re seeing in our colleges and universities is the creation of a hostile environment in violation of Title VI [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964].” 

Several Jewish members of Adams’ team also addressed students’ concerns at the roundtable, including Menashe Shapiro, deputy chief of staff and senior advisor to the mayor; Richie Taylor, deputy chief of the NYPD and Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications.   

Dept. of Education finds Michigan, CUNY didn’t adequately investigate campus antisemitism, Islamophobia

Administrators at the University of Michigan and the City of University of New York failed to adequately investigate students’ reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia, the U.S. Department of Education announced on Monday. 

The department’s Office for Civil Rights, known as OCR, released the findings of its investigations into how both Michigan and CUNY handled antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents dating back to 2020, culminating in resolutions reached with both universities to end the investigations in exchange for the administrations promising to do more to take students’ complaints seriously. 

The agreements were the first to resolve investigations related to discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry — including antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Israel discrimination and anti-Palestinian racism — on college campuses since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel sparked a wave of antisemitism and ushered in a slew of more than 100 new investigations into potential civil rights violations. 

“There’s no question that this is a challenging moment for school communities across the country. The recent commitments made by the University of Michigan and CUNY mark a positive step forward,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights continues to hold schools accountable for compliance with civil rights standards, including by investigating allegations of discrimination or harassment based on shared Jewish ancestry and shared Palestinian or Muslim ancestry.” 

Jewish community advocates praised the department for resolving the complaints. In recent months, Jewish leaders have called on Congress to increase funding for OCR, which has been unable to hire additional attorneys to handle an immense increase in its caseloads since Oct. 7. More than twice as many shared ancestry investigations have been opened since Oct. 7 than in the previous seven years combined. 

“The findings are sobering, but not surprising. Both schools must take their obligations to protect students seriously,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a post on X. 

Investigators found that at Michigan, there was “no evidence” that the university complied with federal civil rights requirements mandating that the school assess whether 75 incidents of shared ancestry discrimination reported from late 2022 to early 2024 created a hostile environment for students. Because the university failed to determine whether Jewish and Muslim students faced a hostile environment, investigators also raised concerns that the university did not act “to end the hostile environment, remedy its effects and prevent its recurrence.” 

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon, who oversees OCR, said she was “grateful to the University of Michigan for its speedy commitment to course correct following the volatile campus conditions since October 2023.” The university pledged to review each report of discrimination from the 2023-2024 school year and to report on its progress assessing harassment over the next two years, as well as to better train employees to comply with federal civil rights guidelines.  

In a statement, Michigan President Santa Ono said the university “condemns all forms of discrimination, racism and bias in the strongest possible terms.” The agreement, Ono added, “reflects the university’s commitment to ensuring it has the tools needed to determine whether an individual’s acts or speech creates a hostile environment, and taking the affirmative measures necessary to provide a safe and supportive educational environment for all.” 

The resolution reached between CUNY and the Education Department combined nine open investigations alleging antisemitism and Islamophobia or anti-Arab discrimination at several CUNY campuses, including Hunter College, Brooklyn College and Queens College. The department specifically criticized the university for failing to investigate and address an alleged antisemitic incident that occurred in a 2021 class at Hunter College, and called on CUNY to reopen investigations into antisemitic or Islamophobic harassment. 

“The good news is that they are finally issuing resolution agreements for universities to make changes to address discrimination against Jewish students,” Ken Marcus, chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which helps students file civil rights complaints against universities, said of the agreements. Adding a note of caution, Marcus, who headed OCR in the Trump administration, said he had hoped for “more specificity and detail” in the agreements. “Instead, the Education Department has kicked the can down the road, requiring [CUNY] to make some vaguely described changes to its policies.” 

In a statement, William C. Thompson Jr., the CUNY board of trustees chairman, promised the university would work closely with the Education Department. “We look forward to working with the Office of Civil Rights to ensure that all members of our community feel safe and included in the CUNY mission of equal access and opportunity,” said Thompson. 

That both agreements included mentions of both antisemitism and Islamophobia — even though the two OCR complaints against Michigan only referred to antisemitism — reflects a common Biden administration practice of linking the two forms of hatred, even when the incidents are not connected. 

“We all want universities to provide equal protection for all of their students, including Jewish and non-Jewish students alike. But it’s unusual for the agency to address claims by one group by insisting that multiple groups be treated in a different way,” said Marcus. “When women come forward and say that an institution is discriminating against women, the agency doesn’t come up with an order saying that both women and men need to be treated better in the future.” 

University administrators on high alert for Gaza protests at upcoming graduations

At last month’s Honors Convocation at the University of Michigan, one of the first events of the school’s spring graduation festivities, President Santa Ono — dressed in full academic regalia — stepped up to the stage to address the university’s soon-to-be graduates.

Almost immediately, a chorus of boos broke out. Several dozen students rose, holding signs that read “Free Palestine” and “Ceasefire Now.” Ono was at the lectern for less than two minutes before he sat down, unable to continue speaking over the students’ shouting. The ceremony ended abruptly, and early. 

The event highlights the challenge universities face as they prepare for the prospect of anti-Israel protests at university graduations across the country this spring. While the frequency of protests has diminished since last fall, fallout over the Israel-Hamas war continues to roil U.S. campuses. That university administrators have responded to protests that violate campus policies, such as the one at Michigan, with inconsistent enforcement of university codes of conduct raises questions about how they will handle similarly disruptive actions at graduation events. 

Although no protests have been announced yet, some campus activists are already calling on pro-Palestinian supporters to wear keffiyehs and bring Palestinian flags to graduation. But whether graduating students are willing to disrupt graduation ceremonies to make a political statement, as they did at Michigan — and risk being kicked out of the event — remains to be seen. 

“There’s a rich, long tradition of students especially, but sometimes guests, engaging in protests in commencement exercises,” said Mark Rotenberg, vice president for university initiatives and general counsel at Hillel International, which has been advising university administrators about heading off disruptive protests.

Usually, students who want to make a point at graduation do so silently. Often, they write a political message on their cap or turn their backs to object to a particular speaker. Sometimes they hold up signs, such as last year at Howard University, where 12 students silently protested President Joe Biden’s address with posters that said things like, “Biden and [Vice President Kamala] Harris don’t care about Black people.”

Occasionally, they even stage a silent walkout, such as students at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., last year who protested Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who delivered the commencement address. The phenomenon is widespread enough that, in 2014, CNN published an op-ed about “the smarter way to protest college speakers,” after three universities reversed course and changed their commencement speakers to respond to student backlash.

Many schools have not yet named commencement speakers for their 2024 graduations. But so far, it appears that prominent universities are choosing not to tap political or controversial speakers to deliver the commencement address.

“You just see people invite the most bland, noncontroversial, I guess, or non-political speakers out there. People like Donald Trump, or Joe Biden, or other controversial figures don’t really get invited anymore to these events,” said Zach Greenberg, senior program officer at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Notre Dame students walked out during former Vice President Mike Pence’s speech in 2017. (The White House and the State Department did not respond to requests for comment asking if Biden, Harris, Secretary of State Tony Blinken or other senior administration officials had been invited to deliver any commencement addresses this year.)

There’s also a possibility that graduation speakers — either invited guests or student speakers who were selected by the university — may decide to use the opportunity to make a political point. Recent student speakers at the City University of New York’s law school graduation condemned Zionism in their speeches. The university responded by entirely eliminating student speakers from its official commencement events. (A CUNY spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about its plans for graduation this year.)

“Many universities will say to the student speakers who are invited to speak at commencement, ‘You’re not supposed to speak about controversial political topics in your speech,’” said Rotenberg, a former general counsel at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Minnesota. “They’ll say that because the intention of the event, the purpose of your being invited to speak, is not to offer your own personal views on politics but to celebrate the graduation of your peers.” That doesn’t mean the students always listen. 

“The real concern,” Rotenberg added, “is that there will be disruptions so that a congressman, for example, can’t give his speech, or an honorary degree recipient cannot receive their degree, because they are tenured at an Israeli institution of higher education, or that other Israelis in attendance will be badgered, harassed or even attacked.” 

In recent months, university enforcement of policies regarding disruptive protests that attempt to shut down speakers has been lackluster and uneven. While speaking at the University of Maryland, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) was shouted down by hecklers who called him “complicit in genocide.” 

“What you saw play out actually was democracy and free speech and academic freedom,” UMD President Darryll Pines, who attended the event and made the decision to shut it down, said later. When asked whether vocal protestors would also be allowed to disrupt the school’s graduation ceremonies, a university spokesperson shared a link to a Monday email from the school’s general counsel outlining UMD’s free expression policy. 

“No person may intentionally and substantially interfere with the lawful freedom of expression of others,” the email said. The spokesperson did not say whether the actions of the students who shouted down Raskin violated the code of conduct, and if similar activities would be tolerated at graduation. 

When reached for comment, several prominent universities directed Jewish Insider to their schools’ codes of conduct. All of them agreed that disruptive protests are not permitted at graduation, although they declined to share specifics about their plans for any potential disruptions, citing security concerns.

“We are well aware there is a possibility of disruption,” said Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor for executive communications at the University of California, Berkeley. “There is a distinct line and difference between nonviolent protest that does not interfere with the rights of others — including the right to participate in and/or attend a graduation ceremony — and impermissible actions that violate the rights of others.” 

The University of Virginia plans to have “designated areas outside the ticketed event space for protest activity to occur during official ceremonies,” a university spokesperson said. Official events and ceremonies are ticketed. “Protest activity must not block access to the event or use amplified sound.”

Graduation ceremonies are usually the biggest events that universities organize each year, and the culmination of students’ experiences on campus. Dignitaries — politicians, trustees, donors, prominent alumni — are in attendance, putting the schools under more intense scrutiny. That’s a big difference from student-run events where security protocols might be unclear, or where administrators may choose not to enforce campus rules.

“They’re not really prepared for addressing heckler’s vetoes and event disruptions,” said FIRE’s Greenberg. “For commencement, it’s a very well-planned large event and universities take great pains to ensure it goes smoothly. So I think because of the preparation, because due to the large police presence there and just the sheer number of people, any disruption to the event, whether it’s the speaker or to the audience, tends to be addressed pretty quickly.” 

Chris Booker, director of media and public relations at The Ohio State University, said the large number of attendees at graduations means “there is always a potential for a disruption. It has always been a part of the university’s standard comprehensive preparedness plan to employ heightened safety, security, and crowd and audience management measures for commencement.” 

Citing new campus policies announced in January to combat antisemitism, a spokesperson for American University asserted that indoor protests are not allowed on campus. “This includes commencement,” said Matthew Bennett, vice president and chief communications officer. “Violations of the directives or other university policies are subject to disciplinary action.”

Stacy Wagner, a University of Colorado Boulder spokesperson, said that “interference, obstruction, or disruption of CU Boulder activity” are violations of the student code of conduct. “Any student found responsible for violating the Student Code of Conduct will be subject to appropriate sanctions.” 

Neither Bennett, Wagner or the other university administrators contacted by JI shared how violations would be handled, and what “disciplinary action” might entail. 

Universities “sometimes are a little squeamish,” Rotenberg pointed out, “about being completely candid about what are the consequences for violating these rules.”